Indian job-seekers stranded in UAE eagerly wait to return home as money runs out
Dubai: Several Indian job-seekers stranded in the UAE due to travel restrictions amid the coronavirus outbreak are running out of money and desperately want to return home, according to a media report.
Shahanad Pulukkool, 26, a driver from Kannoor district of Kerala, whose visit visa expired on April 1, said he is staying with four others in a one-bedroom apartment in Hor Al Anz, the Gulf news reported.
My brother is leasing the apartment. Owing to the unusual situation we are all in, four others have joined us in the apartment. My brother who works as a driver is taking care of us, he said.
Pulukkool said he came here looking for a job as a driver, but to no avail. I just want to go home now. I don't want to be a burden on my brother, the paper quoted him as saying.
Pulukkool is among several other Indians who came to the UAE to seek employment and now eagerly waiting to return home as they are living off the generosity of Good Samaritans with little or no money left with them.
Shaukat Ali, 29, also from Kannoor district in Kerala who also lives with Pulukkool and his brother said had been shortlisted for a job but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the company put hiring on hold.
"My visa expires in May end but I see no point in staying here. I am embarrassed to live off someone and want to go back, Ali said.
Mahesh Purwa, 30, who is worried about his situation. His visit visa expired on March 30 and he as scheduled to fly out of the UAE on March 25.
I heard the overstay fines will be waived off, but I would rather be back in my home country now. Purwa is staying with a friend, but he says he does not want to be a burden on him for long. Musaddique M, 27, also from Kerala, said he wants to return home as he sees no point waiting around and looking for a job.
According to travel agents and social workers, there are several more such stranded visitors in the UAE, the paper said. Saifuddin Chappan of Travel House said the company is also receiving calls every day from people asking when the rules will change.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
